Need You Now
by NihilExNihilo
Summary: Elena Gilbert left Mystic Falls the day she graduated high school and never looked back. She's now working as a journalist for a news paper in the big city and was content with the way her life was heading.. until one night when she meets Damon Salvatore. A simple drink turned into something much more than she ever thought possible.


**Elena POV**

Saturday nights were for relaxation and boozing (the latter being seen more often on this side of town); but here I am, typing away on my computer about a serial rapist terrorizing the East Coast. I uncrossed my legs, letting the blood flow freely through them again, a prickly sensation buzzing from the tip of my toes into my thigh that made me squinch my nose. I'd been here for hours, rewriting and editing my article for Mondays paper, hoping to land it on the front page and venture off from my usual gardening and cooking tips.

"Such bullshit," I mumbled, trying to relinquish a headache that was forming between my eyes, by rubbing my pupils. I could neither garden nor cook, and the only reason I'd been assigned to such dull and sexist topics was due to what was between my legs; or to my editor, what wasn't.

The computer screen was becoming too bright in my closed cornered cubicle, and after looking at the time, I decided it was better if I went home. No use in trying to squeeze anything else out of my tired mind and risk a mistake that my editor would surely find and use as an excuse to demote me to something worse that my current topics (if there _was_ anything worse). I shut my computer down and stuffed it into my bag, taking the last gulp of my coffee and returning it to the sink in the break room.

It was like an entire different world when I stepped onto the side walk outside of my office building, waving at the door man, whose name I didn't know. All around me were loud noises, harsh lights and lots of bare skin, which all made my headache incredibly worse. I rode in a cab over here, but silly me forgetting my days of the week, knew that now there wouldn't be another free cab until at least 6 AM. I huffed and pulled the strap of my laptop bag further onto my shoulder, and began my walk home. I reached into the small front pocket and prayed that I didn't forget my shiny and precious iPod when I left the house this morning. With immense joy I grabbed onto it and pressed 'Shuffle' sliding the buds into my ears. A fast techno song was bumping through the cords of my earphones, mostly drowning out the noise outside and making my walk seem much more bearable. The city wasn't always my first choice when I moved out, and neither was writing about gardening, but here I was, loving the fact that I knew no one in this huge city, and knowing I could start over entirely. Mystic Falls, Virgina was where I was born and raised, until my parents died in an accident when I was 16. My Aunt Jenna took custody of my younger brother, Jeremy, and I, but when I was 18 and I graduated high school, I left. Mystic Falls held too many painful memories and once I crossed over the towns borders, I never looked back. Jenna would call regularly, always complaining of how Jeremy had fallen off the deep end, _again._ He never fully recovered after our parents death and I always regretted leaving in such a critical time in his life.. but all I could do is hope he understood.

My thoughts wandered to my work, going back over my latest piece (which I'd memorized), and trying to find any other errors I could fix before Monday when I slid it onto my boss's desk. The introduction was definitely gripping, and my interviews with the victims parents seemed neither too intrusive or unemotional, which I think would help with-

"What the fuck!?" I yelled as I yanked the earbuds out, furiously turning around to see who had ran into me, almost knocking me out of my heels and onto the pavement.

"Whoa," said the perpetrator, holding up his arms in surrender. "You dropped these papers out of your bag, they were flying everywhere." I then noticed a thick stack of my notes and interviews that went towards my article. I sighed deeply and felt heat rise up my throat, splashing my cheeks with color.

"I am so sorry, I had my ear phones in and didn't realize-"

He laughed, "it's okay, I know you probably thought I was some creep." He stared at me, his blue eyes a striking color against his cream colored Henley that had 3 open buttons at the neck line. "I just wanted to get these back to you."

I gulped, noticing his broad shoulders under the fabric, "Thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done without these." An odd sound, which I guessed was a giggle, bursted out of my throat, startling us both as I reached for my papers and slid them back into my bag safely. With wide, playful eyes that were focused solely on me, he chuckled, "Are you going home or going to work?" He scanned my outfit, which was usual work attire, even though no one else was in the office today except for me; a dark blue pencil skirt with matching coat, a yellow button up with it's sleeves pushed up to my elbows, and my favorite heels, accompanied by a high, twisted bun.

"Coming from." I answered.

"Well you look exhausted, how about a drink?" The man smiled a crooked smile, making my knees go weak and form a lump in the pit of my stomach.

"I uh- yeah, sure, I'd love to." I stuttered, further embarrassing myself. When was the last time I got asked out for a drink?

"Great," he said, extending a hand to me as he stepped off into the street. I lightly placed mine in his and let him help me down the few inches of sidewalk that there were.

"So, working at 1:00 am on a Saturday? That's what I call dedication." He said, looking down at me a good 6 inches.

I shook my head, forgetting what time it was, "Yeah, something like that."

"Here good?" The man asked, pointing at a blacked out club building, that music playing so loudly from I could feel it in my chest. Skeptically, I looked at him, and back at the club. It had been a while since I was asked out sure, and he was ridiculously cute, but it was also 1 in the morning.. so why would some guy be wandering the streets, helping innocent women retrieve their work papers and being readily available for a drink?

"I uh-" I began, but he stopped me.

"I promise I'm not a creep. I just know the bouncer in here, he let's me in for free." He slapped his hand to his forehead, "I'm not cheap either! Oh shit, this isn't going very well." I laughed as he stumbled over himself, feeling a little more at ease, but still guarding myself.

"Okay, Mr. Not Creep, I will give you a chance." He smiled back at me, extending his hand towards me, "As endearing as 'Mr. Not Creep' is, let's stick to my real name; Damon." I shook his hand, my skin tingling where it met his.

"Nice to meet you, Damon. I'm Elena."

"Now," Damon said excitedly, clapping his hands together, "Lets go get that drink!" I laughed, following behind him.

"Hey Mitch! Hows it hangin'?" The burly doorman rolled his eyes, "What do you want, man?"

"This little lady and I were hoping to be welcomed into this fine establishment that you're guarding, so well I might add, and partake in the lively party that has no intent on slowing down anytime soon. You see, my beautiful guest has _just_ now gotten off work, on a Saturday! And she is in need of a libation." He motioned towards me, winking, then turned back to the doorman, his voice almost too low for me to hear, "And after the other night of me saving your ass, you owe me." The man straightened, his eyes focused in on Damons, "Yeah, dude, whatever. Just go in." He seemed uncomfortable, leaning away as Damon turned towards the door, motioning me in.

"Thanks." I said as I passed by him, wondering what it was exactly that Damon "saved his ass from" and why the man who was almost twice his size, couldn't take care of it himself. Damon led the way down a dark hallway, the sound of the music becoming louder and louder. I clutched the shoulder strap of my bag, pulling it close to my body. In the 4 years that I lived in this city I had never been somewhere quite like this. Strobe lights were the only form of lighting in the entire warehouse style building, no windows or sensible air conditioning, which caused for the billows of some sort of hazy smoke to hang above our heads. "Can I take your jacket and bag?" Someone screamed at me, the smell of sour liquor and vanilla filling my nose. I jumped back at the voice and tried to politely smile as a girl with lots of facial piercings and bright blue hair was popping gum, extended her hand towards me.

"Yes, please!" I shouted back, trying to breath through my mouth. The smell she was trying to mask with that sweet perfume was too much for me. I shrugged off my jacket and handed it to her with my bag which she exchanged with a paper ticket.

Damon was making himself at home at the bar, already ordering drinks for us both. "I hope vodka is alright!" He yelled over the music, holding two shots, one extended towards me. My eyes widened, a shot? Not exactly what I had in mind for a "drink".

"Uh.. yeah, sure!" I smiled slightly, taking the overflowing glass out of his hand and downing it. It had been some time since I'd had something other than red wine, and the evil liquid burned all the way down. "Agh!" I exclaimed, handing the empty shot glass back to Damon.

He arched an eyebow, "Another?" Before I could answer he had already turned back to the bartender and I saw him holding up two fingers. I unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on my blouse, the mixture of heat from the dancing bodies around me and the warmth I was already feeling from my shot causing a few droplets of sweat to fall down my back. Damon turned back to me with another of the clear liquids and pushed it into my hands, his eyes going straight to my chest.

"Warm in here?" He smirked, throwing the liquid back quickly.

"A bit!" I smiled curtly, throwing back the liquid, feeling my muscles loosen.

"Hey," he said, reaching out to place his hand on my elbow and pulling me into him, "I know this probably isn't what you had in mind, but you seemed like you really could have used some fun. You looked so.. tense. I thought this would do you some good." I eased up a little bit, he was right, I definitely needed some fun, especially with the hours I'd been working and seeing as how those hours made it impossible to see any of the "friends" I had scarcely accumulated.

"You're right," I told him, holding up a finger for another shot. The third went down a little quicker this time, not burning as much as the first.

"Okay," I said, clapping my hands together, mimicking Damon, "Lets go dance!"

I pulled on his hand, bringing us deeper into the massive crowd of people, and successfully found a spot where we weren't elbowing people in the face. I twirled and threw my hands up in the air, feeling my dark hair unravel from the tight bun it was in. To hell with looking professional, I was having fun! I let the rest of the tendrils fall, running my fingers threw and laughed; something I hadn't done in a long time.

"There we go!" Damon called out, throwing his hands up and swaying to the beat. I gripped his hand, twirling out of reach, and then crashing against his chest.

My hair was thrown to one side, my neck exposed as my hips pressed against Damons.

"You smell.." He breathed in deep, "so delicious." A naughty grin spread across his face as he waggled his eyebrows. This man was sin, pure and unadulterated sin, bottled up in a bad boys body. The way he was watching me under hooded eyes and gripped me with his strong hands had me almost unraveling on the dance floor. Our hips couldn't get any closer as we continued to dance along to the fast beat, sweat beginning to cover my entire back. Damon reached up and ran his hands through my hair, a moan escaping my lips. I threw my head back and bit my lip, swirling into him in seductively. The heat was building in more areas than I cared to admit and I turned to face Damon, my stomach flipping at the sight of his lips pulled up on one side. I spun out of his grasp again and twirled away towards the bar, "I need another drink!"

Damon followed suit and I ordered myself a beer, while Damon ordered another shot for himself.

"I don't know how you can drink so much of that stuff!" I said, taking a large gulp of my beer, the heat getting worse the longer we stood still. He turned his nose up at my choice of alcoholic beverage, "And I don't know how you drink so much of _that_ stuff! At least this doesn't have the extra calories! How do you think I keep this hot bod?!" Damon motioned down at himself and I felt my mouth water, taking another large sip of my beer.

"You're so modest!"

Damon laughed, "And humble, too!"

He swallowed back his shot, setting the glass down on the table and licking a few drops off of his fingers. A unique mixture of heat was now pooling between my legs. Get a grip, Elena! You just met this guy, and you're intoxicated! Hell, I didn't even know what time it was. As if he read my mind, Damon looked at the time on his phone and looked back at me meekly, "You don't wanna know."

I groaned, agreeing with him. "Come on, I'll get you home." I finished off my beer and set it on the bar, following behind Damon.

"Oh, wait!" I slightly slurred, trying to fish the paper ticket out of my pocket to retrieve my jacket and bag. We approached the counter, "AH HA!" I exclaimed, holidng it up for Damon to see. He chuckled and was just about to say something when someone pushed me, making me almost topple out of my heels.

"HEY!" I yelled, whipping around.

"Daaaaaaaamy!" The girl with blue hair screamed in such a high pitched voice it almost perforated my eardrums, "Where have you been?! I haven't seen you in so long! And you haven't returned any of my phone calls!" My eye brows hitched into my hair line, Damy..? I saw him peaking around the girl who was pouting in his arms, "Uh, Rach, this is Elena. My date." 'Rach' turned slowly, sneering at me. "Really? Her?"

"Now you just wait a sec-" I begun, my liquid courage fueling me.

"Rachel, that wasn't very nice." Damon said, in a scolding voice that was also a bit sexual, if thats even possible. I was severely pissed off at this point, and ready to get the hell out of here.

"Hey, 'Rach'! Can you just get my damn jacket and bag and I'll leave you and 'Damey' alone?"

The girl reached over the counter and grabbed them both from underneath, pushing them into my hands. "Have a _great_ night, Ilene." I scoffed, that didn't even sound close to my name. I pulled my jacket on and burst out into the cool air, taking a deep breath.

"You okay, miss?" The large bouncer asked me, what was his name? Mitch?

"Uh, yeah, I am." I pushed my hair out of my face. "Actually, Im not. That guy, _Damon,_ is a huge fuc-"

Mitch held his hand up, "You won't be the first to say it." I stared hard, "I realize that now." And then stormed off. My feet were killing me, the stiletto heels not letting me cover as much ground as I was angrily trying to put between me and that disgusting club.

"Elena! Elena wait, please!" I heard Damon behind me. I took a heel off, throwing in his direction, he dodged it and kept advancing, "You piece of shit!" I screamed, throwing the other. Damon somehow dodged that one too and was now face to face with me. "I am _so_ sorry about that. Rachel, she is just one of those girls who never got the hint." He rubbed the back of his head, looking up at my under the thick veil of his eyelashes.

"Oh yeah? And what about all the others? Mitch definitely made it seem like this wasn't the first time something like this happened."

Damon groaned, "Mitch fucking hates me. He'd say anything he could to piss off the prettiest girl he's ever seen me with."

My brain was moving slowly from the alcohol, "So you _do_ bring girls there all the time!? God you're disgusting!" I turned, getting ready to run off again but Damon caught my arm.

"Elena, please stop, I found you on purpose, okay?"

"What?" I said,now feeling like 'getting a drink' was really a bad idea.

"I found you on purpose. I have to take you back to Mystic Falls."


End file.
